Need to transfer money from Ireland to Australia or the other way round?? I’ve got you covered.
All people who move to Australia on a working holiday visa will need to send money from their bank account to their new Australian bank account. Or maybe you need to send money to a family member who has moved to Australia?
Whether you are on a working holiday visa or moving here permanently, this guide will help you transfer money from Ireland to Australia in the cheapest way. First and most important rule! Do not do a bank-to-bank transfer! They charge 4-6+ on the exchange rate and often take sending or receiving fees. My recommendations are more than 0.03%, A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE. And I will show you the cheapest way to transfer money to Australia.
My Facebook page, Irish Around Oz, gets enquiries all the time from people asking:
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What is the best way to send money from Ireland to Australia?
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What is the safest and fast way to send money from Australia to Ireland or the other way round!?
My number one recommendation for sending larger amounts of money to Australia from Ireland:
Get free transfers for life with OFX over $100 with this link. YES, for life!
OFX – Fantastic for larger money transfers over the $5k mark. Currencyfair is excellent, but with OFX, you get a more dedicated broker who can offer advice on the rate and best time to transfer, which means more money in your pocket at the end of the day. By far the best way to transfer money from Australia to Ireland.
Currencyfair – Get your first ten transfers for free with this link. Up to 8x cheaper than banks and an Irish company
Transferwise – Simple, easy to use and often have excellent rates! You can see the main differences between Currencyfair vs Transferwise here.
Get your free account with this link.
Okay, thanks for the links Stephen but why shouldn’t I use banks to send money from Australia? As you probably saw at the start of the article, I mentioned that no matter if you are sending money to Ireland or Australian banks, they will rip you off! And I shared exactly my experience in doing so below.
Here is what happened to me when I went to transfer money from Ireland to Australia:
- When I first moved to Australia, the mistake I made was sending it via my bank! I figured I would get a reasonable rate, and it is probably the easiest.
- I didn’t realise that banks could charge between 4% and 6% on the exchange rate(yes, that much!).
- I also paid about €20 in “Sending fees.”
- Not only that, but when I got the money in my new Commonwealth bank account, I had to pay a receiving fee from an international bank transfer.
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So my hard-earned €3000 transfer to Australia had accumulated over €100 in bank fees when you include the sending/receiving fees and the crazy % they charge on the exchange rate.
- Of course, I didn’t care; I needed the money and frankly thought it was the only way to send money from Ireland to Australia.
About one week later, my buddy, Ian, told me about CurrencyFair, an Irish company that he used to transfer money from Ireland to Australia a few months previous.
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- He explained how you send money to CurrencyFair’s local bank account and then exchange it on the marketplace for whatever currency you need. In my case, Australian dollars.
- Then, you send it to your bank account from their local bank.
- Basically, you don’t pay any sending or receiving fees(which is excellent!)
- But I still had reservations; it only took me a few minutes to set up the money transfer from Ireland to Australia with my bank. I don’t mind the fees, and this CurrencyFair thing sounds complicated.
- Then he mentioned that Currencyfair only adds 0.49% to the mid-market currency exchange rate, whereas traditional banks can add markups of between 3% and 6%. Their exchange rates are extremely competitive, and our flat fee remains low at just €3 or the currency equivalent.
- I went to their calculator to see how much more I would have saved if I had used them with my €3000, and
it said that the “Recipient gets $150.44 more!”
So to cut a long story short, it was the very last time I sent money via bank!
Transferwise(now known as Wise), waiting back then is certainly another good option to look into.
- The average person who moves to Australia on a working holiday visa for two years sends money from Ireland to Australia or from Australia to Ireland up to five times!
- So it makes a lot of sense to use CurrencyFair versus it takes three clicks to transfer money from Australia to Ireland.
Over the years, I have recommended CurrencyFair as the cheapest way to transfer money from Ireland to Australia.
Thankfully, many of you reading this have not yet lost out on the crazy bank fees.
I am happy to let you know that you will get your first ten transfers for free if you sign up with this link. You will not regret using them to transfer money to Australia.
They have a low transfer fee after the free transfers are finished; it is still handy to get some free transfers when you send your money from Ireland to Australia.
Extra tip – if you are moving to Australia, be sure to get some travel insurance. You can read my post on recommended travel insurance in Australia here.
What other options are there to transfer money from Ireland to Australia?
As you will see from the above, CurrencyFair is my personal go-to for sending money to Australia or anywhere else, for that matter.
But sometimes, you need a more personal approach advised broker who can offer advice on when to transfer, how the exchange rate is doing, etc. Or you might just be sending a lot of money home from Ireland to Australia(€5k+), and you want to speak to someone.
This is why my second recommendation would be OFX(Ozforex); they offer fast & secure international money transfers and better FX rates than your bank. If you sign up with them here, you get no transaction fees over $1000AU for life for all Irish Around Oz readers.
Many people in my Facebook group for Irish ex-pats returning to Ireland are transferring money home from a house sale, in AIn those cases, Australia or the other way round. I highly recommend you deal with a broker versus using a bank transfer service in those cases.
People also ask other questions about the cheapest way to transfer money from Ireland to Australia.
- Can I transfer money to other bank accounts? Yes! All of these services allow you to send directly to account your family members’ bank accounts.
- How long does it take to send money from Ireland to Australia? It can take anywhere from 2 – 3 business days. But if it is urgent, these companies allow debit card top-ups over a much faster time period for a fee, of course.
- What is the best way to send money from Ireland to Australia? My top recommendations for lower transfers under €5k – are Currencyfair, Transferwise(Wise), and Revolut. For larger transfers €5k plus – OFX, you can register here and get an even lower rate than normal plus free transfers for life!
Can I still use banks to send money from Ireland to Australia? Of course. But think about it; you are giving them additional money in the form of fees for zero benefits. I hope this information has been helpful with advice on how to transfer money from Ireland to Australia.
Final resources to transfer money from Ireland to Australia:
Sign up to CurrencyFair now with our link and reserve your first ten transfers!
Sign up to OFX now with our link and get free transfers for life over $1000
Transferwise – Another popular money transfer service that offers excellent rates. You can read my comparison between Currencyfair Vs Transferwise here.
Thanks for reading, and good luck moving to Australia!
Cheers,
Stephen Palmer
P.S Many more fantastic services on my resources page.